Grapevine Ministries
Messages from the bible to uplift and encourage those that need a word from the Lord, to strengthen their faith. Ps Phillip Barker is an itinerant pastor in Perth, Western Australia.
Grapevine Ministries
Discovering Greatness in the Ordinary: True Meaning of Christmas
Can greatness truly emerge from the ordinary? In this thought-provoking episode, we explore the profound theme of "The God in Small Things" by examining the humble beginnings of Jesus as depicted in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2. Join us as we reflect on the small, seemingly insignificant details in the Christmas story—like Jesus's birthplace in a simple stable, the modest role of shepherds, and the meaningful gifts of the Magi. By comparing the contrasting portrayals of Bethlehem in Matthew and Micah, we discover how God brings forth magnificence from the mundane, as seen through the lives of figures like David and Jesus. This discussion will remind you of the profound significance hidden in life's most ordinary moments.
Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.
If we'd like to turn our Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2. Now I'm going to start reading from verse 6, but then we will go in and we will highlight a few things to put things into their right perspective. Perspective so it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered and she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the inn. Now there were, in the same country, shepherds living out in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were greatly afraid. John around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them Do not be afraid, for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people, for there is born to you this day, in the city of David, a Saviour who is Christ the Lord. In the city of David, a saviour who is Christ the Lord, and this will be the sign to you you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Now the reason I'm reading that and I know everybody's going to say, oh, because it's Christmas. That and I know everybody's going to say oh because it's Christmas, that is only one aspect of what we're talking about today. What I really want to focus on and this is the main theme that I'm looking at at this point in time, because I've titled the message the God in Small Things.
Speaker 1:Now, it doesn't matter whether you've got a. If you're asking for a miracle, is that miracle because you've broken your foot, your little finger, whether you've got stage three cancer, whether you're crippled and paralyzed in a chair? The list goes on and on of all the things that you could have challenges in in your life. It could be an addiction, whether drugs or alcohol. It may even be that you're just struggling financially and you really don't know what to do, that you're just struggling financially and you really don't know what to do.
Speaker 1:God is there for the small things. No season in the church calendar excites Christians as much as Christmas does. This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. We've just read that in Luke 2.6.
Speaker 1:The very first Christmas focused on the little things, in contrast to the grandness of today's Christmas. God did not arrive in the world with all the fanfare and glory you know that you get with celebrities and all that sort of stuff, or when royalty comes to the country. No, that is not how he arrived. He came in the smallest of all human beings, a baby. Not to forget other small details of the Christmas narrative the little town of Bethlehem. Now you'll see throughout scriptures they talk about how insignificant Bethlehem is. In Matthew 2.6, you'll read about that. The tiny stable where Christ was born. In Luke 2.4-7. The small group of shepherds as witnesses you see that in Luke 2.8-11. The small but significant gifts of the Magi in Matthew 2.9-12.
Speaker 1:It's notable that these small symbols played massive roles in the history of humanity. As the adage goes, great things can come from the smallest package. Similarly, god's love comes to us in the smallest of things and God is love. So the enormity that he can shed that love throughout the entire world. But it came through the giving of his son to us in the smallest of ways no fanfare, no entourage, none of that was there. It was just a baby being born in a little stable, in a very insignificant town and out of all the places that you could have had that child born. You look at this If you're looking for the grandest Christmas message, you need not look further than the tiniest but notable details God has placed in this story about his birth.
Speaker 1:But right now I'd like to focus on just the town itself of Bethlehem. Matthew 2.6 says this but you, bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people, israel. Isn't it interesting that Matthew writes that Bethlehem is by no means least amongst the rulers of Judea? Because in Micah 5.2 we read that Bethlehem is too little to be among the clans of Judah. Is there a contradiction here? No-transcript. There are many, many examples of this throughout the Bible, but I want to focus on this just a little bit longer. When we read these two verses in God's design context, we understand that while Bethlehem may be a socially and economically insignificant city, a socially and economically insignificant city, god has chosen to bring greatness out of it through the birth of our Lord and Saviour, jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:Bethlehem is a great example of God bringing greatness out of the ordinary. For example, consider two individuals, david and Jesus. Now, david was the youngest son of an ordinary man from Bethlehem. He had an ordinary job. He was shepherding his father's flock. After the Lord rejected Saul as king of Israel, saul was instructed Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jess the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for himself a king amongst his sons. 1 Samuel 16.1. See, by the grace of God, david was taken from an ordinary family and an ordinary profession to basically being an insignificant person to become the greatest king of Israel.
Speaker 1:Our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world in the little town of Bethlehem. He wasn't born in Jerusalem or in a palace. Rather, the events of his birth are very, very humble. Rather, the events of his birth are very, very humble. We also told you in Luke 2.7, mary gave birth to her first son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. In other words, shortly after arriving in Bethlehem, joseph rushed Mary to the nearest location to her to give birth, and that was a stable. And after Jesus was born, he was placed in a feeding trough for livestock. But it is by the grace and the mercy of God that, even out of this humble beginning in Bethlehem. Our Lord Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Bestowed upon him the name that is, above all other names Philippians 2.9. 2.9.
Speaker 1:Some might consider Bethlehem, yemen, chad and Somalia to be ordinary poor places, but let us remember 1 Corinthians 1.27, where it says this God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. The world may consider us ordinary, insignificant, foolish and weak, but God delights in using the ordinary for his great purpose. Now, I didn't just randomly pick these places right. Yemen has nearly 80% of its population live below the poverty line, chad has over 42% of their population lives below the national poverty line, and Somalia, roughly 70% of the population live below the poverty line.
Speaker 1:Bethlehem is a city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank of the state of Palestine located about 10 kilometres or six miles for people that are not privy to the difference between kilometres and miles so roughly six miles south of Jerusalem. It is the capital of Bethlehem, the government and, as of 2017, I couldn't get any later statistics because of, obviously, what's going on in Israel at the moment but as of 2017, they had a population of 28,591 people. The city's economy is largely tourist-driven. International tourism peaked around the period of you guessed it Christmas, when Christians embark on a pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity, reverent as the location of the Nativity of Jesus.
Speaker 1:This is the place where Christ was born, and so out of this little, insignificant place, great things come. Another statistic that you may not know as per Capital, israel has produced more Nobel Peace Prize winners than any other country in the world, and if you look at that alone, that will show you just how this small, insignificant place can actually shine through so many things. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Nobody, but nobody, comes through the Father except through him. It comes through the Father except through him. Jesus didn't come with a bang, he didn't come with trumpets blaring, and you know multinational things happening all around him, and you know the only party and the only rejoicing that was taking place was in the heavenly realm. Jesus came to us to live amongst us, to show that he had given up his deity so that he could fulfill everything that was prophesied in the Old Testament. So as we look at this first Christmas, we've got to look at it from another perspective.
Speaker 1:There are books out there that explore the story from the viewpoint of various characters, including the ox, the innkeeper, the shepherd, the seekers, see the nativity story in a new light and experience a birth and a rebirth within yourself. The Christmas story is about a of Mary Joseph and Jesus. If you understand the simplicity of it, you will get a better understanding of what it really means. If you're looking at the nativity scene one Christmas, you know, I remember when the kids were young and they wanted to actually see. You know where Jesus was in a nativity scene and why did God of the whole universe decide to enter this world in a vulnerable, inconspicuous way? It would not have been my choice by any stretch of the imagination, but I would have gone with grandeur, triumphant entry. You know the massive coming and everything, but Jesus has reserved that for the second coming and everything but Jesus has reserved that for the second coming. So as you ponder this question, why was Jesus born amongst the sheep? I want you to turn back to Luke 2 and read the account of his birth in detail and see how it actually enlightens you.
Speaker 1:Due to a census, mary and Joseph had left their home in Nazareth to travel to Bethlehem, and Mary probably thought, or at least at some point in time, that she would have to make it back to Nazareth to give birth to her baby, safely home and surrounded by people and friends that she knew. But that was not to be what was to come to be what was to come. While Mary would be unaware of the approaching time of this event, god was not taken by surprise at all. The omnipresent presence of God knew when the precious child would be born, with Mary delivering it and the promise of God coming to pass. This is often God's way. He will plant within us a seed or bring forth a dream that comes to a mission, something that would be world-changing or needed, something that is needed in the world. And we are the one that he has chosen to do this. As we walk with him, he creates the perfect timing to bring forth his promise, even if that timing feels imperfect to us. This can take us by surprise and suddenly we see new beginnings occurring when we least expect them. He is faithful to perform his word. Just as a baby must be born, form his word just as a baby must be born. So much promise of God in our life. You'll find this in Philippians 1.6 and in Isaiah 55.11.
Speaker 1:And my apologies for the dog. Okay, it's thrown me a bit off here. My son and his wife have moved in with us temporarily and we've got these two little dogs which butter wouldn't melt in their mouth, but sometimes just sometimes they decide to bark at the wrong time. So it's unexpected. But in saying that, we know that God is never taken by surprise. He knew that there was no room for the lodgings of Mary. He knew that the place that the baby was going to be born would actually be something as insignificant as a manger. Christmas reminds us that the significant birthing of God's son often looked insignificant to begin with, and it takes a mindset of humility to see God in that manger. As we walk with him, he creates the perfect timing to bring forth his promise, even if that timing feels imperfect to us, he is faithful to perform his word.
Speaker 1:The significance is often surrounded by signs and wonders. While Jesus' birth was how should we say? Inconspicuous, it was surrounded by signs and wonders. Angels appeared in heavenly Luke 2, 9 through to 14, 2.9 through to 14, and sent shepherds to the field to find the new Messiah. They began to spread the word of the news of the birth and many were astonished.
Speaker 1:Now just imagine when the three wise men no, not three wise men. Okay, that is a fallacy. Okay, it says wise men from the east. Okay, they had to have seen that star and where it was before the birth took place because they had to travel such a long way. Because they had to travel such a long way. But over time it is shown that there were three wise men because they had three gifts. You know, those three gifts are set to actually show the royalty of who was born. But it was not to say that if these were wise men from the East and they were quite wealthy and they were coming to bow down before Jesus, then they would have had this massive entourage. It wouldn't have just been three of them. There may have been three leaders, but that was not what it was meant to be.
Speaker 1:So you've got to put things into perspective and this is why, at this time of the year, I think it's important for our children and our grandchildren to really understand the true story behind what has now become a, you know, a global sensation. It's portrayed in movies and and nativity scenes all over the world and you find that they sometimes have different animals there and you know, and they talk about the three wise men, and so all of this time it I mean, if you go back to adam and eve, right, uh, why did adam and eve get kicked out of the uh, the garden of eden? Well, it's because they ate the fruit of the forbidden tree in the centre of the garden. And what is it now? Everybody perceives that to be an apple, for a variety of reasons. Why an apple? It could actually be a fruit that was only on that tree and God never allowed that fruit tree to produce ever again, and so it's a fruit that we don't even know. I mean, that's my own personal opinion, but I do know that it was not, I repeat, was not an apple. So, getting back to this, what I want, let me just go through this bit. Lastly, I mean, I just want you to ponder on this for a minute.
Speaker 1:I think of Mary in the midst of this event. How much she felt, what was on her mind, what she was elated about or was she scared? I can only imagine it was a time of mixed emotions, and Luke 2.19 records this simple statement about Mary. She treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. I love her meekness to bow to God's way and his wisdom in the midst of the chaos of that evening. No doubt she allowed that to strengthen her as she began this new journey with Jesus. Her humility makes and reminds me that when we are walking with God, we need to hold on to his words and promise, no matter how crazy life gets. This keeps us moving forward into our new season.
Speaker 1:Through some challenges in my life, I sometimes forget that he is my Lord and my Saviour. He is the one that guides my footsteps and as long as I keep pressing into him, I know that when the time is right, he will bless me and he will open up the floodgates of heaven and pour out such blessings upon me that there's not room enough to contain it in the storehouse. But right now, at this very present time when I am weak, I need to draw on his strength. I need to trust his word, knowing that John 3.16 tells us that he loved us so much that he gave his only begotten son. All through the New Testament and even in the Old Testament, the foretelling of Christ's coming and also how he would go is incredibly structured in such a purposeful way that we know that God is in control. He will never leave us nor forsake us. If we believe in his word, then we know without a shadow of a doubt. You know he will fulfill the things that he says. You know he will fulfill the things that he says. Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all people. That is, luke 2, 29 to 31. God is always reminding us of his word and his plan and his purpose, but we're not ready. We're not ready for him to show us the whole picture.
Speaker 1:Have you ever been putting a puzzle together and you haven't really had the picture to look at, to see what the end result is going to be? You just need to have to work out that puzzle on your own, because you've been given a bag of your own, because you've been given a bag of jigsaw pieces and you've got to work out where they all go. And then you are in awe of the fact that you've been able to complete the puzzle without actually having a guide on the box that shows you the finished product, but also as you go through adding piece after piece after piece, slowly but surely, you come to see the images that will eventually form the whole picture. I believe that sometimes that's how God works he is slowly revealing pieces as the time comes to where he will show us the full picture. I honestly think that there is.
Speaker 1:So, I mean, I could mention so many scriptures that would give you a full breakdown of what the Lord fully intended for us as a people, all of those that live on this earth, and he has a plan and a purpose for every one of us. And, like I said before, he's omnipotent, omnipresent. You know, he is there with us, guiding us and giving us direction. We need to learn to be patient, and right now I am preaching to myself to be patient, and right now I am preaching to myself. But the importance of this message, I think, more so now with what is going on in the world.
Speaker 1:I think it is more prevalent now to make sure that people know the true meaning of Christmas and everything about Christmas, even though it's turned into a massive big pagan ritual, and everything, everything that takes place in Christmas has a relevance to our Lord and Saviour, without even realising it. The tree is shaped like a, you know, a triangle the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It's the Trinity. Okay, the lights you know that are put on the tree. It pushes back the darkness and brings the light of the world through, because he is the light of the world, of the world through, because he is the light of the world. So many things you know have been diluted and washed away. We need to tell our children and our grandchildren about the true meaning of Christmas. That's enough for today, and I'll talk to you next week and we'll get more into what Christmas is all about. God bless, and talk to you next week and we'll get more into what Christmas is all about. God bless and talk to you soon. Bye for now.
